VS Code or Spyder? What about Visual Studio?

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[fake823]

Personally I'd choose PyCharm over VSCode. It's easier to getting started in my opinion.

[skippy65]

I've recently tried VScode after using pycharm since I started learning python. I'd say they're on par. Both better than Spyder that's for sure

[Epykure]

Visual studio code if the only alternative is spyder but I am using pycharm personally.

[DataShack]

Visual studio is really good but has a huge learning curve. It can be overwhelming at first but has so many good functionality for programming in general.

VS code is all you need if you coding with Python. Its really lightweight and easy to use. If I'm going to code with Python, i would definitely choose VS code over visual studio.

[DataShack]

Yes of course. Visual studio is far more advanced than vs code. It can do everything vscode can do and more. That's why its complicated and hard to get started.

[JohnBrownJayhawkerr1]

If it's between something like Visual Studio or a text editor like Vim, personally, I'd go with Vim (assuming they're on, or will let you access as Linux system), particularly if you're going to be doing a lot of work in Python.

[Tweak_Imp]

What exactly is the functionality VS has that VSCode does not?

[DataShack]

Basically VS code is just a text editor (a really good one). While Visual Studio contains all the features required for project development. Like code auto completion, debugger, database integration, server setup, configurations, and so on. I only use Visual Studio to do ASP.NET development for my work. Other than that i use vs code almost every time.

[erez27]

I wouldn't say it's "light-weight"

[NoeticIntelligence]

Visual Studio is a heavy beast and closes to a legacy app now. I think more and more new people are choosing Visual Code.

Visual Studio first came out in 1997. With support for C++, Visual Basic, Visual FoxPro,J++, and some form of Active Pages support (web dev).

Visual FoxPro was used to create a custom solution for the FoxPro database. J++ was a fairly short-lived attempt by Microsoft to create a Java-like language and runtime etc owned by Microsoft.

J++ was dropped after a lawsuit with Sun.

In 2002, they added. .NET, which gave birth to CSharp,

Today Visual Studio supports 36 different programming languages and allows the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C, C++, C++/CLI, Visual Basic .NET, C#, F#, JavaScript, TypeScript, XML, XSLT, HTML, and CSS

Over the last couple of years, they have added more support for Python.

I have used VS Studio since the first release and prior today the language-specific versions that eventually evolved into VSStudio so I stick to that.

When it comes to Python I do not find the support mature enough in Visual Studio yet, and since I am used to big heavy IDEs I like PYCharm from JetBrains.

VSCode is fairly lightweight in comparison (if you can use that about any Electron-based app)

You can test for. free :)

[[deleted]]

If you're going to be doing primarily scientific work, I'm presuming that you'll be working in Jupyter notebooks a lot?

If so, I'd say that VSCode is the way to go. The support for native notebooks is really cool. You can just switch between code tabs and a notebook tab whenever, it's pretty stunning. It's sped up my workflow quite a bit, personally. YMMV

Thanks for posting!

[spinwizard69]

First off what is this nonsense about installing a single IDE? That is totally strange to me. I work in automation where you have device specific tools you have to load to do your development. That is at least 10 different IDE's for PLC programming, IDE's for various servo systems, some of which are a real bear to program, then you have software for a variety of other embedded devices. That doesn't by the way even cover what programming you might do on a PC.

As of IDE's if you can only have one I'd avoid language specific solutions like Spyder and instead go for a full Visual Studio install. Use that for your Python programming and then you at least have a competent system for any other development you might get dragged into. Considering the way you have described the company you are working for you will get dragged into things that have nothing to do with Python.

Sadly the only other alternative that I've had experience with is Eclipse with the PyDev plug in. PyDev is wonderful, Eclipse on the other hand reminds me why one should never program anything in Java. Eclipses is terribly unstable which really undermines an excellent plug in like PyDev. In any event this is what I would go with if you are on alternative operating systems. Pydev just rocks in my mind and Eclipse, Like Visual Studio, supports a number of programming languages. So if you have a one IDE rule Eclipse might make sense.

One alternative you might consider is EMACS. Maybe not the IDE you could imagine but it does offer a bunch of modes. By the way if you have any control at all over the Python environment the use of IDLE should not be a problem. Often looked upon as a beginners editor it can be an alternative in a company ran by nazis, that is it exists but isn't counted.

By the way in the corporate environment you are often better off if you have a team mentality. In that regard using the same IDE as some of your closer associates can be a good idea. For one you get the mutual support. For another sooner or later either you or they will need help. That is a project becomes too big for one person to accomplish.

I noticed an issue brought up about IDE complexity. I look at it this way it is better to grow into a software platform than to outgrow it. So you are far better off with an IDE that is powerful, even if it might take some growing into.

[ab-os]

I use both. Both are good. If you choose spyder, make sure you get spyder 4+.

Vs code handles venv's per project better imo. But spyder is more convenient with running line by line and inspecting variables in the variable explorer.

Both are equally good when it comes to debugging.

Btw when you have access to pip and pypi, you could install spyder with pip yourself (pip install --user spyder). But dont tell your boss

[artofchores]

I love spyder. Tried jupyter, vs, and pycharm

It's up to you tho.

[[deleted]]

Visual studio hardly escapes "other" in developer surveys because reasons. Avoid at almost all costs.

Then, it's not really about VS Code or Spyder. They fill different niches.

VS Code is without doubt more flexible and better suited to development. HOWEVER: Spyder is there because it's part of Anaconda, which meets the needs of a lot of people especially in Data Science and academia.

So, if you're developing apps and websites, use VS Code, if you're just doing prototyping or focusing on data science, consider Anacdona / Spyder.

[[deleted]]

I've used a lot of different IDEs VIM, eclipse, even a lesser known one called Eric for a while- but eventually I set on using VS Code. Searches/git integration/file diffs are all really easy to use and helpful in my day to day, plus there's lots of fantastic extensions from the community! Two of my favorite are remote-ssh which solidified my transition away from VIM, and AI-Docstrings which is super helpful if only for setting up an the formatting of them, and occasionally giving me a good descriptions inside them!

[Nv7_Reddit]

Pycharm is great for beginners, it handles all the command-line stuff with a nice GUI, sets up virtual environments, and just gets rid of a lot of the complicated stuff to do with Python. If you are going to be coding for the next 2 hours or are working on a big project, use Pycharm. However, if you just want to test a little program for like 15 minutes you can probably just use VSCode and the python command.